WARNING: Spoilers ahead...
“More human than human” – the slogan which describes the synthetic, artificial life forms of 1982’s Blade Runner. These life forms are known as ‘replicants’.
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| Written by The Curmudgeon |
“More human than human” – the slogan which describes the synthetic, artificial life forms of 1982’s Blade Runner. These life forms are known as ‘replicants’.
In the world of Blade Runner, replicants appear human -
they’re sentient, intelligent, and capable of feeling. They are but slaves to
their homo sapiens overlords. As much as they would like to be, they aren’t
human – they can’t be. And they’re equipped with an in-built 4-year life span
to keep things that way. They are totally stripped of their agency.
Thus, the “more human than human” concept is also the
conceit by which the replicant rebels, led by Roy Batty, fuel their upheaval.
When replicants revolt, it’s down to the Blade Runners
– replicant hunters – to “retire” them from service. Among them is Rick
Deckard, a lone detective who’s lumped with the responsibility of relentlessly
hounding Roy Batty, the replicant deuteragonist, when he defects. All Batty
wants is a longer life span and a chance at freedom.
The ending of Blade Runner is pretty famous, by all
accounts. It’s likely that, even if you’ve not seen the film, you’re familiar
with this scene. When Deckard and Batty
corner one another into a dingy, disused building, the tables are turned on
their full-blown grudge match. Batty torments Deckard, chasing him from wall to
wall as the hunter becomes the hunted. How can the human compete with that
which is more human than human?
Batty strong-arms Deckard until he hangs from the rooftop.
He could kill him right here and now. He could let his grip betray him and
watch him fall. But he doesn’t.
Instead, Batty lifts him from the jaws of death. As Deckard
stares down Batty in a mix of terror, relief, and sheer confusion, Batty muses
on the tragedy of his own existence. His in-built life span then comes to an
abrupt end.
If there’s anything that can be learned in this case, it is
this: contrary to what Blade Runner’s inhabitants may believe, humanity is not
an arbitrary title. It is a choice. And it’s this presence of a choice which
makes the ending of Blade Runner so poignant. Despite the fact that Deckard has
relentlessly pursued Batty for the duration of the plot; Despite
Deckard’s already-high replicant “retirement” count; despite the fact that
Deckard is Batty’s adversary; he saves his life anyway. And then they talk. And
that’s it.
You don’t get more human than that. It isn’t a long
life-span that makes the person, nor is it a definition arbitrarily bestowed
upon you by the social standard. The simple choice he makes to save Deckard’s
life when given plenty of reason not to is exactly what makes him human.
Humanity is a choice.
Appropriately, the 2017 sequel, Blade Runner 2049, takes this concept even further.
2049 focuses on a Blade Runner by the name of Officer K. Unlike Deckard, K is unambiguously a replicant. As such , he fills his sub-par existence with anything which can bring him closer to the feeling of humanity he sorely dreams of. A holographic wife - Joi - fake, holographic steak dinners emulating the picturesque, white-picket-fence lifestyle of a man living the 1950s American dream. But as K looks down upon the sumptuous hologram blanketing his vapid bowl of slop and lifelessly says "honey, it's beautiful", one can't help but realise that it's all a veneer. Despite his attempts to imitate a human life, it's missing the crucial ingredient.
In the course of the story, K stumbles upon evidence of a replicant who birthed a child; something they shouldn't be capable of doing. As the walls dividing replicants and humans are at risk of collapsing, K is tasked with destroying the evidence - including the birthed replicant child.
As the mystery unfolds, however, he comes closer and closer to the conclusion that he is the child.
He believes himself to be special. He adopts a proper name, 'Joe', and abandons his slave duties as a Blade Runner to pursue his self-discovery. The very fact that he could have been born has ascribed him the humanity he so desperately desired.
It is all the more crushing, then, when Joe discovers that he is, in fact, not the child. There's this incredible moment which follows, as Joe gazes upon a giant holographic advertisement for Joi. "She'll be anyone you want her to be", the advertisement claims. This is as uncomfortably close as Joe can come to realising how, just like his 'wife', his life is a farce.
In spite of this, Joe sacrifices his own life to reunite the real child with her father, instead of killing the child as initially instructed. Why would Joe do this when it didn't concern him in the end, and why does any of this matter?
It's because the he made a choice, one which was distinctly human.
The wife, the steak dinner, the veneer of a happy, all-American lifestyle - none of these things are what make Joe human, in the end. Nor did the possibility that he was conceived, birthed, and wanted. Much like Roy Batty before him, it is the simple dash of empathy, the act of kindness, and the agency he gains because of it, which make him human.
The legacy of Blade Runner muses on the nature of being human, but the conclusion is quite simple. Our humanity is decided by our actions - the choices we make.
Appropriately, the 2017 sequel, Blade Runner 2049, takes this concept even further.
2049 focuses on a Blade Runner by the name of Officer K. Unlike Deckard, K is unambiguously a replicant. As such , he fills his sub-par existence with anything which can bring him closer to the feeling of humanity he sorely dreams of. A holographic wife - Joi - fake, holographic steak dinners emulating the picturesque, white-picket-fence lifestyle of a man living the 1950s American dream. But as K looks down upon the sumptuous hologram blanketing his vapid bowl of slop and lifelessly says "honey, it's beautiful", one can't help but realise that it's all a veneer. Despite his attempts to imitate a human life, it's missing the crucial ingredient.
In the course of the story, K stumbles upon evidence of a replicant who birthed a child; something they shouldn't be capable of doing. As the walls dividing replicants and humans are at risk of collapsing, K is tasked with destroying the evidence - including the birthed replicant child.
As the mystery unfolds, however, he comes closer and closer to the conclusion that he is the child.
He believes himself to be special. He adopts a proper name, 'Joe', and abandons his slave duties as a Blade Runner to pursue his self-discovery. The very fact that he could have been born has ascribed him the humanity he so desperately desired.
It is all the more crushing, then, when Joe discovers that he is, in fact, not the child. There's this incredible moment which follows, as Joe gazes upon a giant holographic advertisement for Joi. "She'll be anyone you want her to be", the advertisement claims. This is as uncomfortably close as Joe can come to realising how, just like his 'wife', his life is a farce.
In spite of this, Joe sacrifices his own life to reunite the real child with her father, instead of killing the child as initially instructed. Why would Joe do this when it didn't concern him in the end, and why does any of this matter?
It's because the he made a choice, one which was distinctly human.
The wife, the steak dinner, the veneer of a happy, all-American lifestyle - none of these things are what make Joe human, in the end. Nor did the possibility that he was conceived, birthed, and wanted. Much like Roy Batty before him, it is the simple dash of empathy, the act of kindness, and the agency he gains because of it, which make him human.
The legacy of Blade Runner muses on the nature of being human, but the conclusion is quite simple. Our humanity is decided by our actions - the choices we make.
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